The University of Arkansas Community Design Center, in collaboration with Marty Matlock, a professor with the Ecological Engineering Group, has been awarded a grant of $464,000 from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. The money will be used in planning and designing the neighborhood, which will include 30 to 50 Habitat for Humanity houses on eight acres. McClelland Consulting Engineers and the city of Fayetteville are also partners on the project.

The houses will be built with green principals, using solar orientation and cross currents within the house to ventilate and cool it. A sustainable neighborhood planned for Habitat for Humanity employs the concept of “shared streets”. Instead of capturing stormwater runoff through hard civil infrastructure, such as curbs and gutters, the project will use wet meadows, bioswells and infiltration features.